When we read about John the Baptist during Advent, we sometimes mistakenly see him as the wild one preparing the way for the mild one, when what I think he may be actually saying is "get ready for one who is even wilder than I am--wilder for love, wilder for justice,...
Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.
For any of us feeling longing in Advent: Even though Jesus’ experience in the wilderness wasn’t easy—he fasted for forty days and forty nights and was confronted by the devil—the devil was not the only one he encountered there. The spirit sent Jesus into the...
The decision for hope rests on what we believe at the deepest levels — what our most basic convictions are about the world and about God and about the future. We choose hope, not as a naïve wish, but as a choice with our eyes wide open to the reality of the world and...
Recognize the difference between the exaltation of Jesus and the exploitation of Jesus. You can stick the name of Jesus on anything. On any church, on any speech, on any campaign, on any ministry, business, banner, t-shirt, or car bumper and shamelessly exalt the...
We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think--in fact they do so.
We tell our people that evangelism is the only practical application of the gospel. “Go ye into all the world and make disciples” is our favorite passage. We leave off the end of the sentence “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” We love...
God’s work is you. Come to him, and be not a laborer but a child, and you will become a partner of the infinite God and of his world.
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world? Because, properly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the ideal, the sublime,...
A church that has lost its voice for justice, is a church that has lost its relevance in the world.